Last week, the Joint Committee on Finance began voting on motions to reshape the 2023-25 state budget as originally proposed by Gov. Tony Evers (D) in his executive budget. The committee process, expected to conclude by mid-June, will result in the final budget bill that will be voted on by the full Legislature.

At its May 2 meeting, the committee began by approving a motion to remove hundreds of spending proposals and non-fiscal policy items from the budget, effectively resetting spending levels to the 2021-23 baseline (the current budget). The motion removed many significant changes to state law proposed by Gov. Evers.

Both motions were approved along party lines, with the committee’s 12 Republican members voting for the motions and its four Democratic members voting against. The Joint Committee on Finance took similar steps to remove most of Gov. Evers’ proposals from the 2019-21 and 2021-23 budgets.

As we wrote in February, the following problematic policies were included in Gov. Evers’ executive budget proposal, including the creation of several new private causes of action. The Wisconsin Civil Justice Council met with key legislators and worked to ensure that these provisions, which would harm Wisconsin’s business community and worsen the state’s civil litigation climate, were removed from the budget, set aside, and not considered further.

Civil Justice Provisions – All Removed as Non-Fiscal Policy

• Creation of a new civil cause of action allowing a person to bring an action alleging that an employer has violated employment discrimination, unfair honesty testing, or unfair genetic testing laws (currently, a person may file a complaint with the Department of Workforce Development). Back pay, attorney fees, and compensatory & punitive damages could be awarded.
• Creation of a new civil cause of action allowing any person to bring an action against a broadband service provider alleging the provider has denied access to broadband service to any group of potential residential customers because of the race or income of the residents in the area in which the group resides. Costs and attorney fees could be awarded. The Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection could also enforce this provision.
• Restoration of the ability of private parties to bring a qui tam action against a person for making a false claim with the state, such as Medicaid. The private party bringing the claim on behalf of the state could be awarded up to 30 percent of the amount recovered, along with attorney fees. The Wisconsin Civil Justice Council successfully worked in the 2015 legislative session to remove a similar provision under prior law. (Currently, the Department of Justice may bring an action against a person for making a false Medicaid claim.)

Other Notable Provisions – Also Removed as Non-Fiscal Policy

• Under current law, courts are prohibited from giving deference to agency interpretations of law and agencies are prohibited from seeking such deference from a court. The executive budget repeals these provisions.
• The executive budget provides no funding and no position authority for the Wisconsin Judicial Council. The Wisconsin Civil Justice Council has opposed funding and position authority for the council.